A Message to Conservatives...

You've been talking a lot about how Obama is the "do nothing" president. You keep talking about how he hasn't done anything since he's been in office.

Really?

Here's a list:


(1/21/09) Enacted pay freeze on white house members making more than 100k
(1/21/09) Banned gifts to members of his administration from lobbyists
(1/21/09) Required members not become lobbyists for 2 years after leaving
(1/21/09) Stopped restrictions on FOIA claims for presidential records
(1/22/09) Banned the use of torture during interrogations
(1/22/09) Ordered the end of detention without due process at Guantanamo
(1/23/09) Removed abortion restrictions on aid to family planning groups
(1/29/09) Increased statute of limitations on discriminatory pay
(1/29/09) Started the replacement of 16,000 sets of deficient body armor
(1/30/09) Stopped federal funding for bribing of workers to not unionize
(2/4/09) Expanded Children's health care program for low income families
(2/26/09) Lifted 1991 media ban on photographing fallen soldier's coffins
(3/9/09) Reinstated federal funding for stem cell research
(3/29/09) Announced redecoration of White House will be out of his pocket
(3/30/09) Gave national protection to 2,000,000 new acres of wilderness
(4/6/09) Introduced program for new naval combat ship for Somali patrol
(4/13/09) Removed Cold War era restrictions on travel to Cuba
(4/21/09) Reinstated and expanded AmeriCorps program
(5/19/09) Raised car MPG and emmisions standards for first time since 1990
(5/20/09) Started federal crackdown on fraud in financial institutions
(5/22/09) Introduced provisions to stop credit/debit predatory practices
(5/22/09) Cut out waste in defense contracting and research/development
(6/1/09) Cash 4 Clunkers boosts MPG of automotive fleet to all-time high
(6/17/09) Authorized benefits to same-sex partners of government workers
(6/22/09) Disallowed marketing flavored cigarettes to kids
(7/4/09) Successfully negotiated return of 2 citizens held by N. Korea
(7/21/09) Discontinued F-22 fighters, a 1980's plane never used in a war
(10/1/09) Prohibited federal workers from texting while driving
(10/12/09) Created program for judges to save money for their families
(10/5/09) Required federal agencies to cut fuel consumption 30% by 2020
(10/19/09) Stopped federal raids on medical marijuana dispensers
(10/19/09) Allowed any court to issue warrants for stored communications
(10/22/09) Required accountability on how VA health care budget is spent
(10/28/09) Extended hate-crimes to include ones based on sexuality
(11/6/09) Awarded Casimir Pulaski honorary citizenship
(11/9/09) Extended outreach to hire returning veterans to government jobs
(12/16/09) Removed social security benefits for times when one is in jail
(12/16/09) Allowed amtrak riders to carry firearms in checked luggage
(12/16/09) Ended ban on funds for needle exchange programs
(12/22/09) Tasked the Department of Justice with enforcing human rights
(12/30/09) Ordered creation of response plan for a biological attack
(1/29/10) Stopped restrictions on releasing visitor logs of White House
(2/1/10) Cut massively overbudget constellation program out of budget
(2/12/10) Reinstated congressional restriction to offset spending w/revenue
(2/16/10) Tax cuts and infrastructure improvement to combat recession
(2/18/10) Created commission to provide full plan on reducing debt
(3/18/10) Tax cuts for employees and employers
(3/23/10) Largest reform of health care since 1965
(3/30/10) Removed need for student loans to be run through banks/marked up
(3/31/10) Announced increase in hybrid purchases for federal autos
(4/6/10) Approved targeted killing of Al-queda regardless of citizenship
(4/8/10) Reduction of US and Russian nuclear arms by 1/3, focus on Iran
(4/15/10) Introduced plan to incentivize private space travel companies
(5/14/10) Froze congressional salaries through 2011
(5/25/10) Sent 1,200 National Guard troops to Mexico border
(6/9/10) Started a fund to pay transportation of fallen soldier's families
(7/2/10) Increased security of biological agents and toxins stored in US
(7/21/10) Largest reform of background financial transactions since 1924
(7/22/10) Extended basic unemployment benefits for 2.3 mil Americans
(7/22/10) Started investigations into stopping fraudulent federal payments
(8/2/10) Reduced racial divide in sentencing for crack and cocaine
(8/4/10) Posthumously restored rank of Vietnam scapegoat commander


Now... let's compare that to what Bush Jr. did while he was in the office...

Well, I'm not going to bother to make the list, why don't you guys do it? Just do me a favour and don't bother listing all the times he went on vacation, that'll make it a much shorter list.

Thanks.

How to Lose A Friend.*

I've gotten to the point in my life where I simply cannot handle excess noise and distraction. Don't get me wrong, I like a little diversion every once and a while, but I've suddenly found myself not only flooded, but drowning.

I've been complaining recently about how I never seem to have enough time each day; that I can't find enough hours to be able to do the things I need to do. I find very few moments where I can steal enough mental silence to be able to sit down and focus on being productive. On being an artist. On simply creating.

So who's fault is it? Who's keeping stealing my time away from me? It's my fault. I'm letting it happen.

It started a week or so ago. Facebook stopped e-mailing me notifications. I never know when there's a response to something I do unless I'm actively sitting on facebook. Every morning I would wake up with over 30 e-mails from facebook in my inbox. I would receive more than a hundred more during the course of the day. Yes it only takes me a minute to send out a response... but that's still a minute times 100. That adds up to over two hours a day in which I'm doing nothing more than continuing diversionary conversation being shoved at me.

Once those e-mails stopped, I noticed I had a little more free time. I came to realize that my morning routine had stopped being just a routine. It was an addiction. While repetition was indeed comforting, it created a sort of crutch. Wake up, brew coffee, shower, "quick e-mail check".... suddenly it's in the middle of the afternoon and I haven't done a thing.

In order to grow, we must be willing to challenge our comfort levels.

So the morning e-mail routine ended. I was getting back my life, one minute at a time. Once I realized this what was murdering me minute by minute, I stepped back and made assessments of what else was stealing my time.

Everytime I caught myself not being productive I took my hands off the keyboard, slide my chair back and say, "is this really the most judicious use of my time?"

I erased accounts. Barring that, I had accounts erased for me.

More and more of my personal time was being rescued from mediocrity. I was starting to enjoy it. It was becoming a game. If it did not improve the quality of my life, if it did not help me to learn or grow as an artist or a person, it was to be cut out of my world.

I cast my baleful eye at Myspace. I realized I hadn't even checked it in 2 months. So I killed it. No loss there.

Then I turned to Facebook. 680 friends. Six hundred and eighty goddamned "friends". Can I possibly have that many friends? Am I really that friendly? That likable? That amicable?

I looked at my news feed. I looked at my "who's online" list. I realized something.

Not only was Facebook stealing my time, but it was also constantly angering me. Each day, usual a few times each day, something would come up on my feed that didn't just irritate me. It fucking pissed me off. I kept thinking to myself. Are my friends this stupid? Are they really my friend if they're able to piss me off this much?

No. Wrong. These are not my friends.

So the culling began. 680. Time for wholesale slaughter.

Someone from high school who would've never been caught dead calling me a friend 15 years ago? -delete-
Some random hippy from circuit I would kill if I caught on my couch? -delete-
Some girl who's as much an alt-model as I am a plumber because I flush a toilet once a day? -delete-
From Yorktown? -delete-
Status updates in all caps? -DELETE-
So-And-So liked 28 groups today? -delete-
What's-Her-Nuts can't believe THE SECRET DIRTY MESSAGE IN TOY STORY 3?!?!!? -delete-
Can't stop raving about reality TV? -delete-

Total survivors as of this writing? 450.

Every day I look at facebook, I pay much closer attention to my newsfeed. Instead of getting pissed at people for being stupid, I just remove them from my life. Like my dear friend damnitnicole once said, "losing friends? i don't call it 'losing the garbage' when i take out the trash".

So yeah... for every rattling can erased, I am less distracted, less irritated, less weighted down.

As the noise is turned down, the music becomes clearer. Thank god. Cuz I'm sick of the headaches.

*And by losing a friend, I mean "convincing me to erase you from my social network."